Skyrim sells 3.5 million units in 48 hours, projected to make $450 million

November is always a huge month for games sales, but the amount of multi-million sellers on the docket this year is insane. The latest to join in on the fun is the excellent Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Bethesda’s parent company Zenimax were pleased to announce that they have shipped 7 million units worldwide and have managed to sell over half of them — 3.5 million copies in the hands of rabid gamers on all platforms. All told, the company expects to generate over $450 million with Skyrim.

“More than 50% of launch units were sold in the first 48 hours and Bethesda Softworks has been receiving large reorders from major retailers in North America, and across Europe and Australia,” stated the company in a press release. “Online activity has been notable, with Steam reporting that in the first 24 hours of its release, Skyrim set a record with over 280,000 concurrent players, far outdistancing all other titles.

“The eagerly-awaited title has garnered more than 50 perfect review scores, earning praise from some of the industry’s most influential and respected critics including: USA Today, G4TV, GameSpy, Wired, Eurogamer, Destructoid, GamePro, Official Xbox Magazine, Joystiq, The Guardian, and GamesRadar.”

Also amongst the perfect marks is our review, which you can read here.

People like to say that single-player games are dying, and that publishers need to ship games with online passes to make money. Skyrim‘s success flies in the face of both those theories, and that makes me warm and fuzzy on the inside.